Button-positioning mechanism



July 8, 1941. o. J. HUELSTER BUTTON-POSITIONING MECHANISM Filed May 9, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l J3 4,3 l-mf INVENTOR July 8, 1941- o. J. HUELSTER .248.086

BUTTON-POSITIONING MECI-EANISM Filed May 9, 1939 2 Shets-Sheet z INVENTOR @gw 4M,

Patented July 8, 1941 BUTTON-FOSITIONING MECHANISM Otto John Huelster, Waterbury, Conn, assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application May 9, 1939, Serial No. 272,562

7 Claims.

My present invention relates to a button-feeding and positioning or orienting mechanism on a button-attaching machine, for orienting buttons or the like having a design on their top and means bearing a definite relation to the design, and more particularly constitutes an improvement upon the mechanism disclosed in my prior patent, No. 2,134,404, granted October 25, 1938.

In my above-designated patent there is disclosed a standard type of button-feeding and attaching machine having a cut-off in the track which releases one button at a time, which button drops by gravity to an orienting station whereat it is subjected to rotary or spinning action until the means on the button which bears a definite relation to the design is brought into engagement with a locating means, whereupon the button is directly operated upon by a pusher which transfers the button in desired position to the jaws or setting station of the machine.

In the above-described prior device, as well as in all other orienting mechanisms with which I am familiar, .the button is oriented with its head in a substantially vertical plane and must be moved through an angle of 90 in being transferred from its orienting station to the setting station.

According to my present invention the orienting mechanism is much simplified and the button is oriented with its top in a horizontal plane adjacent the setting station by means comprising a locating device carried by transfer means by which the button is subsequently moved to the setting station in the plane in which it has been oriented. A further novel feature of my present invention is that the button can be oriented in any one of a plurality of predetermined positions with respect to the axis of the setting station to insure proper positioning of the buttons on different parts of a garment.

The invention also embodies other features of novelty which will be better understood from the detailed description which follows when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a fractional front elevation with parts broken away, of a button-attaching machine embodying my invention.

Fig, 2 is a section taken substantially along the plane of the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the locating lever forming part of my invention.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the locating lever shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a fractional side elevation with parts broken away, of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a fractional plan View of a modified form of locating lever.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation partly broken away, of the lever shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 6 showing a further modification.

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of a type of button adapted for orienting with the locating lever shown in Figs. 6 and '7.

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the type of button adapted for orienting with the form of locating lever shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 11 is a fractional front elevation of a detail of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 15 indicates a button-attaching machine standard or head having attached thereto a main bracket l6 having a left guide 11 and a right guide 18 carried thereby, the adjacent edges of said guides being spaced apart and undercut to provide with the main bracket a raceway l9 down which buttons or the like may move by gravity to an orienting station, and from there be transferred to a button-attaching station 2%]. The main bracket and the guides carried thereby adjacent their lower ends are curved to provide the raceway at the orienting station with a horizontal component wherein a button will be supported with its head in a substantially horizontal plane.

The right guide l8 has a portion of its surface cut away and has pivotally mounted therein a cut-off disk 2! having a notch 22 in its periphery, which notch is adapted to intercept the raceway and in one position of the disk support the shank of a button or the like Within said raceway .and operate to intermittently release one button at a time so that it will drop by gravity down the raceway as the cut-off disk is oscillated. To oscillate said disk it is provided with a stud. 23 to which is connected one end of a link 24,

the opposite end of which is pivotally connected to a rock lever 25. The stud 23 extends through the disk 2|, and at the rear thereof carries a collar 230. which is adapted to engage against the side of the right guide l8 to limit the arc of movement of the disk about its central pivot. For oscillating the disk through the rock lever 25 there is provided a bell-crank lever 26 which is pivoted at 21, one end of said lever bearing upon the free end of the rock lever 25 and the other end of said lever 26 carrying an adjustable stud 28, the function for which will presently appear. The vertical or upright component V and 26a.

of the bell-crank lever 26 consists of two interconnected parts a and 26b mounted on a pivot 29 and interconnected through a spring 30 so as topermit a resilient give between the parts 26b The function for said resilient connection between the parts 26a and 26bof the bell-crank lever is to take up any shock imparted to the lever 26 when the collar 23a on the stud 23 of the cut-off disk reaches the limits of its movement, that is, when it strikes the side of the right guide l8. Movement is imparted to the bell-crank lever 26. by an arm or lever 3| engaging the end of the adjustable stud 28, the said lever being operated in synchronism with a pusher slide 44 to be presently described. Adjustment of the stud 28 governs the extent of movement of the lever 26 and hence by ad-.

justment of said stud the give between the arms 26a and Ziib can be reduced to a minimum.

The orienting station is that portion of the horizontal component of the raceway defined by rotatable disks .32 and .33 having peripheral grooves therein which are normally spaced apart a distance slightly less than. the diameter of the head of a button which is to be oriented, so that the, peripheries of said disks .may contact the periphery of said head to rotate the button about its axis. Preferably the disl; .32 is positively driven, and to accomplish this said disk is mount-l ed on a stud 34 which also has mounted thereon amiter gear 35 which is in mesh with a miter gear .35 mounted on a stud which also carries 7 a pinion 3'! which is in mesh with a gear'sector 38 carried by one, end of a lever 39, the opposite end of which carries a roller 40 adapted to ride over an operating cam (not shown).

For orienting a lbutton upon reaching the ori-,

enting station there is provided a locator lever;

4 one -end of which is bifurcatedto straddle the hub of the button. The upper face of the lever 4| is formed with a lug orlprojection 42 pt d; to i w ra e wi h t e. m a n the button which bearsa definit e relation to the design thereon, as the buttonis spun onrotated upon; its axisand to hold said button in oriented position fortransfer from the orienting station to the button -attaching station. The locator lever 4| is pivotally mounted 'intermediate its ends on a; horizontal pivot pin 43 which is mounted inia pusher slide 44, which is movable: to th left in two successive steps by means (not shown) The locator lug is normally biased upwardly into contact with the engagement means on thebutton to be oriented, which latter means is usually located on the under side of the button head, by a spring normally pressing downwardly upon the right hand end of the locator lever 4L The pusher slide 44 just rearwardly of the bifurcated end of the locator lever has mounted thereon a peripherally grooved idler disk 46,; which, when the pusher slide is initially moved to the left by an operating cam (not shown), the disk 45 will enter the horizontal component of the raceway and move the head of the button into contact'with the friction disks 32 and 33Ythereby providing a three point engagement with the head of the button forfixing.

the axis about which-the button is rotated in the stepof orienting the" same. In .viewiofthe biasing-action of the spring 45 upon the bifur-- cate'd end of the locatorlever 4| 'it will be understoodthatja's said lever is movedto the left by movement of the pusherslide' 44, the lug or'proleft guide I! to depress the locator lever, the

cam being of such form as to permit the biasing action of the spring 45 to come into play after the lever has been moved a predetermined distance.

After a button has been oriented at the orienting station by the orienting means, the button must be transferred to the setting station 20, the button receiving portion of which, according to the present invention, is located slightly removed from the orienting station and is adapted to receive a button in the same relationship to the parts of the machine that the button occupies at the orienting station except for the change in position of the button due to shifting it from the orthat when a button has been moved to the orirotate the button about its axis.

rotation lug 42 on the locator lever 4|, will press ienting tothe setting station. However, in order to move the button from the orienting station in the attaching station without disturbing the spacial relationship set forth, one'ofthe friction disks must yield. Accordingly the disk 33, which is an idler, is mounted for such yielding relation, the said disk being carried by a'bracket 49 which is biased inwardly within a socket formed between the horizontal components of the main bracket, and the left guide bya spring clip 50, which is best shown in Figs. 5 and 11, the said clip being pivotally anchored to the main bracket i6 by means of a pivot screw 5% and urged into spring-holding engagement with the bracket by a coil spring 5| mounted upon a screw-threaded stud 52 and held by a nut 53.

To releasethe lug on the locator from the engaging means on the button prior to said but ton reaching the setting or attaching station,"

there is provided a second cam 54 for engaging the pin 41 as the pusher slide is again moved to transferfth'e button from the orienting station to the attaching station.

O'peration.-In the operationof the mechanism 77 let it bea' assumed thata'button has been released .down the raceway l9 and that the pusher slide 44 has been moved through its first step to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, where it pauses; The operating mechanism is so timed enting station, as shown in Figsfl. and"2, the gear sector 38 will move, upwardlyto rotatethe' pinion 37, and through it the miter gears 35 and 35, to positively drive the friction disk 32 to During this upwardly and engage the means on the button which bearsa definite relation" to the design to orient the design and hold the button against I further rotation in said'position notwithstanding that the friction disk 32 may. continue to rotate. 'When the button is: thusv oriented the pusher slide resumesgits motionand is moved through its second step to the left, in the course:

- of which movement the idler disk 33 will yield under the tension of the spring clip. 50' and the coil spring 5| to permit the button topass out of and beyond the orienting; station intothe jaws at the settingistatiomthe pin 41 will then engage the cam 54 to releasetheengaging lug on.

to pass to the underside of 'the head of the but the locator lever from its engaging position, and the button'in oriented position will be deposited at the setting station for attachment in desired and intended relation to a particularpart-of the.

garmentor fabric, After this transferring operation the gear sector moves downwardly, and as the pusher slide is retracted to its extreme right position to clear the raceway the arm or lever 31 is moved synchronously with the pusher slide and engages the stud 28 to move the bell crank cut-off lever about its pivot and thereby move the cut-off disk in a counter-clockwise direction to release a button down the raceway. The pusher slide is then moved to the left to insure the positioning of the released button at the orienting station, and the cycle of operations above described is repeated.

In the foregoing description the button which has been acted upon by the locator lever is of the type in which the means on the button which bears a definite relation to the design is located at the back of the button head, and more specifically is disclosed in United States Patent to Fenton, No. 2,103,615. A top plan of such button is shown in Fig. 9 and discloses a recess or cutout 55 on the under side of the head into which the projection 42 will engage when the button is rotated at the orienting station. As shown in Fig. 9, the cut-out or indentation is disposed in a radial plane of the button and bears a definite angular relation to the design, herein shown as forming an angle of approximately 45 with respect to the horizontal radius passing through the C in the legend ABC on the button. It will be apparent, however, that this angular relationship between the cut-out or indentation on the button which bears the definite relation to the design, may be varied as desired, in which case the cooperating lug on the locator means will be correspondingly located. However, it may be desirable to orient a button in any one of a number of different positions without modifying the button per se, so that the button may be attached to different garments or to different parts of the same garment, in any one of a plurality of predetermined oriented positions. To render this possible I have provided a modified form of locator lever Ma, the fiat, bifurcated end of which is formed with a plurality of openings 55 arranged in the arc of a circle and into which a locating pin or stud 58 may be selectively positioned. To prevent lost motion and insure positive and true orientation of the button I prefer to form the openings 55 so as to prevent rotation of the pin therein, and I provide the stud 56 with a head which, when it engages in the recess or detent in the button head, will hold the same against accidental shifting.

Where a button or stud of the type disclosed in Fig. 10, is used, that is, where a button is provided with a tab 51 on the under side of the head, such, for example, as is disclosed in the United States Patent to Janes, No. 2,067,223, I prefer to provide the locating lever Mb as shown in Fig. 8, with a pair of spaced lugs 58 which are adapted to straddle the tab in the course of orienting the button. In this connection it will be appreciated that the characteristic of selective adjustability can also be applied to the bifurcated, flattened end of the locator lever 45b in a manner analogous to that described with respect to Fig. 6.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be apparent that I have provided a button-positioning or orienting mechanism which is simple in construction, efficient in performing the operations for which it is intended, and which can be readily applied to a standard button-attaching machine with but comparatively few changes in the operative mechanism thereof.

The invention, it will be appreciated, however,

is susceptible of modification and change within the range of engineering skill, hence I do not wish to be limited to the details of construction herein disclosed except as limited by the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What Iclaim is:

1. In a button orienting and transfer mechanism for buttons or the like having engagement means thereon, in combination, an orienting station adapted to periodically receive and support abuttonforrotating about its axis, means at said orienting station comprising a plurality of rotat able disks so positioned as to peripherally confine and frictionally engage the button and rotate it about its axis, at least one of said rotatable disks being positively driven and another of said disks being an idler which is biased by spring means into button-engaging position, 10- cator means for engaging the engagement means on the button during rotation thereof to stop the rotation of the button and hold it in such oriented position at said station, and means for transferring the button in oriented position substantially in the plane of the idler disc from its orienting station to a button-attaching station, the spring biased idler disk being adapted to yield within the plane thereof to permit the button to be moved past said orienting station when acted upon by the transfer means.

2. In a button orienting and transfer mechanism for buttons or the like having engagement means thereon, in combination, an orienting station adapted to periodically receive and support a button for rotation about its axis, means at said orienting station comprising a plurality of rotatable elements so positioned as toperipherally confine and frictionally engage the button and rotate it about its axis, at least one of said rotatable elements being positively driven, locator means for engaging the engagement means on the button during rotation thereof to stop the rotation of the button and hold it in such oriented position at said station, and means lCOHlprising a pusher member for transferring the button in oriented position from its orienting station to a button-attaching station, said locator means being mounted on and carried by the pusher member.

3. In a button orienting and transfer mechanism for buttons or the like having engagement means thereon, in combination, an orienting station adapted to periodically receive and support a button for rotation about its axis, means at said orienting station comprising a plurality of rotatable elements so positioned as to peripherally .confine and frictionally engage the button and rotate it about its axis, at least one of said rotatable elements being positively driven, locator means for engaging the engagement means on the button during rotation thereof to stop the rotation of the button and hold it in such oriented position at saidstation, and. means comprising a pusher member for transferring the button in oriented position from its orienting station to a button-attaching station, said locator means, and one of the rotatable elements at the orienting station, being mounted on and carried by the pusher member.

4. A button orienting and transfer mechanism according to \claim 2, wherein the locator means is carried by a member which is pivotally mounted on the pusher member and biased by a spring into button-engagement means engaging position.

5. A buttonorienting and transfer mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the locator means is carried by a member which is pivotally mounted on the pusher member and biased by a spring into button-engagement means engaging position, the pusher member is normally out of button-engaging position, and means for moving the pusher member in two successive steps first to the orienting station and then to the attaching station, respectively. 7

6. In a button orienting mechanism for buttons or the like having engagement means thereon, in combination, anorienting station adapted to periodically receive and support a button for rotation aboutits axis which is held stationary, means for rotating the button about its axis at said station, and non-rotatable locating means supplemental to the means for rotating the button for engaging the engagement means on the button during rotation thereof to stop'the rotation of the button and hold it in such oriented position at said station, said locating means being adjustable about the arc of a circle to selectively orient the button in any one of a plurality of predetermined positions.

7.'In a button orienting mechanism for buttons or the like having engagement means thereon, in combination, an orienting station adapted to periodically receive and support a button'for rotation about its axis which is held stationary, means for rotating the button about its axis at said station, and non-rotatable locating means supplemental to the means for rotating the button for engaging the engagement means on the button during rotation thereof to stop the rotation of the button and hold it in such oriented position at said station, said locating means comprising a projection adapted to engage the engagement means on the button, said projection being removable and adjustable into a plurality of positions about the arc of a circle to selectively orient the button in any one of a plurality of predetermined positions.

OTTO JOHN HUELSTER. 

